Today in Legal Reform
MONDAY, MARCH 8, 2010
The Insurance Journal writes that global warming litigation will “continue to proliferate and possibl[y] increase exponentially,” creating significant costs for defendants.
A lawyer who served in the Clinton White House calls for a compromise on medical malpractice reform. Read more in the WSJ Law Blog.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 2010
The Wall Street Journal reports that President Obama says he is open to adding a $50 million grant for medical malpractice reform demonstration projects to the health care package.
MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2010
The Hill reports that some centrist Democrats are reconsidering incorporating medical malpractice reform in the health care package.
Readers from across the country write letters to the editor of the Wall Street Journal in response to last week’s op-ed “Why We Need Trial Lawyers.” They assert that the U.S. desperately needs comprehensive legal reform, not only in health care, but in product liability cases as well.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2010
A Wall Street Journal columnist opines that this week’s Toyota hearings in Congress were designed to benefit the trial lawyers planning to sue Toyota.
Forbes writes on the trial lawyers’ elaborate courtship with “suit-happy” pension funds. One law firm hosted a lavish three day “conference” – complete with Broadway play tickets and speakers including Colin Powell – for pension holders, off of whose cases lawyers stand to make hundreds of millions of dollars.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2010
ILR in the News
Overlawyered highlights ILR’s Most Ridiculous Lawsuit of the Month poll. The February poll includes the story of a woman who filed a paternity suit against actor Keanu Reeves for $3 million, alleging that he used hypnosis to tamper with the results of DNA testing.
Today's News
The New York Times reports that President Obama offered a new healthcare proposal yesterday, which did not include a provision for medical malpractice reform.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2010
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich writes in the New York Times that the threat of frivolous lawsuits pressures doctors to order unnecessary tests, and, according to a new poll, spend up to one in four healthcare dollars on unnecessary procedures.
Point of Law continues its series on the Manhattan Institute’s most recent Trial Lawyers, Inc. report, today detailing the plaintiffs’ bar’s $1.5 billion in federal and state campaign contributions this decade and their role in decision making in all three branches of government.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2010
The Wall Street Journal writes on efforts to curb pay-to-play relationships between plaintiffs’ attorneys and public officials with the power to contract law firms to represent the state. Several states have introduced – or have already passed – attorney retention sunshine legislation, but the Clarion Ledger highlights the consequences of Mississippi AG Hood’s continuing pattern of awarding no-bid contracts to the trial lawyers who donated to his campaign.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2010
The Wall Street Journal writes on efforts to curb pay-to-play relationships between plaintiffs’ attorneys and public officials with the power to contract plaintiffs’ law firms to represent the state. Several states have introduced – or have already passed – attorney retention sunshine legislation. Similarly, the New York attorney general recently brokered a pay-to-play agreement with two law firms that will have to return millions of dollars to the state pension fund. Read more on the New York agreement here.
The Manhattan Institute published a report in their Trial Lawyers, Inc. series about plaintiffs’ lawyers’ influence in Washington. The institute’s director also wrote an accompanying op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2010
A front page story in the Wall Street Journal exposes trial lawyers’ political donations to the public officials who influence the selection of legal counsel to represent public pension funds in lucrative shareholder lawsuits."There are certain places where, to be in the game, you have to donate," said a partner at a Washington, D.C. law firm. Many, including some plaintiffs’ lawyers, indicate corrosive “pay-to-play” relationships are unethical and should be outlawed.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2010
ILR in the News
In a Wall Street Journal article about Congressional measures to overturn various courts’ antitrust rulings, ILR President Lisa Rickard says, “Voters are demanding jobs and growth, but Washington is moving in the opposite direction by advancing an agenda focused on increased litigation against business."
USA Today writes on the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission’s ties to the plaintiffs’ trial lawyers. "The purpose of this commission is to take an independent, bipartisan look at what happened and how to fix it, not to advance the agendas of any special interest, particularly those of the plaintiffs' bar," said ILR president Lisa Rickard.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2010
In a New York Times article claiming that courts are emerging as a battlefield on climate change issues, ILR’s Harold Kim predicts that greenhouse gas litigation may become explosive.
James Copland of the Manhattan Institute insists that “repairing our economy requires repairing our legal system” and calls for the State of the Union to address trial lawyers’ political influence. Read more in the Washington Examiner.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2010
The Washington Examiner writes that, while the trial lawyers’ association publicly outlined their 2010 agenda, they left off a few items listed on their lobbying report: a $1.6 billion trial lawyer tax break and a provision in the health care bill that would allow state AGs to outsource their police power to contingency fee attorneys.
MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 2010
D&O Diary writes that only the first few lawsuits related to bank failures have been filed to date and predicts that many more are soon to come. Another D&O Diary article considers the potential for securities legislation in 2010 and indicates that increasing liability for aiding and abetting violations of securities laws will be the plaintiffs’ bar’s top priority.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2010
USCC in the News
The Washington Examiner writes on the power of prosecutors and state attorneys general to overcriminalize corporate conduct. U.S. Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue called former New York AG Eliot Spitzer’s aggressive attempts to allege corporate fraud "the most egregious and unacceptable form of intimidation we've seen in this country in modern times."
ILR in the News
The Economist reports on West Virginia courts’ reputation for hostility towards business. ILR’s Lawsuit Climate: Ranking the States rates the state as the worst in the nation, but Gov. Joe Manchin and the state supreme court have recently announced three reforms they hope will reestablish balance.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2010
USCC in the News
The Washington Post reports on West Virginia’s efforts to improve the state legal system, which was ranked as the worst state in ILR’s most recent Lawsuit Climate: Ranking the States poll.
Today's News
The D&O Diary writes on pay-to-play relationships between plaintiffs’ lawyers and state leadership, citing a New York University Law Review article that confirms that plaintiffs’ lawyers make significant campaign donations to the elected officials who select them as counsel.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010
ILR in the News
Reporting on criticism of the congressional commission probing the financial crisis, the Wall Street Journal quotes ILR President Lisa Rickard: “Appointing plaintiffs' class-action trial lawyers to the financial-crisis commission, and to its staff...raises a very real concern as to whether they will use the important work of the commission ultimately to feather their own nests.”
Tallahassee.com reports on Florida AG Bill McCollum’s legislative proposal to limit contingency-fee payments to outside lawyers suing on behalf of the state, citing the Chamber’s support for the bill. Read AG McCollum’s press release.
Today's News
On probation for paying kickbacks to plaintiffs, former class action lawyer Bill Lerach may regret his statement that he is “not ashamed of myself in any way.” Department of Justice prosecutors are now opposing his request for a 44-day vacation to 18 cities in Europe, citing his “lack of contrition.” Read more in Politico.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2010
ILR in the News
Congress Daily quotes ILR’s Bryan Quigley in an article about the trial lawyers’ 2010 agenda. "I just don't know how much more resources the trial lawyers are going to have, given how much effort, energy and money they have spent to carve themselves out of the health reform bill."
The Hill writes on the trial lawyers’ attempts to eliminate arbitration clauses in certain consumer contracts. ILR’s Matt Webb responded to the attacks by pointing out that “arbitration continues to be the fairest, fastest and more efficient way for all parties involved in a dispute to get it resolved.”
FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 2010
ILR in the News
An editorial in the Chicago Tribune links Illinois’ struggling economy and high unemployment to the issues that most concern employers there, including Illinois’ ranking as the 5th worst state on ILR’s Lawsuit Climate: Ranking the States poll.
Today's News
The WSJ Deals Blog writes that Wall Street companies can’t win. While Goldman Sachs is being sued for awarding bonuses to its employees, Citigroup is being sued for withholding them.
TUESDAY, JANUARY, 2010
Former U.S. Ambassador to South Africa opines that the pending lawsuit claiming that numerous American companies should compensate victims for wrongs imposed under the Apartheid government is “not the way.” Read more in the New York Times.
A doctor writes in the New York Times about the grueling medical malpractice litigation system and the impact it had on the way she practiced medicine.
The District of Columbia is suing AT&T, claiming that the value of unused minutes on calling cards should not be awarded to consumers or to shareholders; it should be collected by the city government. Read more in the Washington Post.
MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 2010
ILR in the News
ILR has released the top five most ridiculous lawsuits of 2009, chosen by thousands of voters in ILR’s Faces of Lawsuit Abuse polls. Click here to read the ABC News story about the 2009 winners.
Fox Business’ Small Business Report discusses frivolous lawsuits’ impact on small business, featuring examples from ILR’s Faces of Lawsuit Abuse video campaign.
Today's News
NBC Nightly News asks what happens when a lawsuit’s only real winners are the lawyers. A recent settlement in a consumer class action awarded the consumers nothing but coupons while their lawyers made $25 million.
